Every Nest Has Its Queen
by BlissfulCacophony
Summary: Among the trappers, the title "The Dragon Thief" is feared and heavily rumored to be more creature than human. A Valka backstory fanfic, exploring her relationship with Stoick as well as her battles with Drago. A companion fic to Exile.
1. Chapter 1

Valka had never really seemed to fit right, not in her clothes, and not in her village. She was lanky, like a baby yak, all legs and arms and no coordination, and she was always growing. She often towered over her peers, but she was a beanpole of a girl with no muscle to speak of. She relied only on her fiery attitude to hold her own against the other village kids who called her strange and insulted her daily.

In all honesty, though, strange wasn't far from the truth. Since she was young, she had liked to run off and explore in the door, taking an interesting in dragons. Not in killing them, as was the standard for Viking children, but in observing them quietly, unobtrusively. She didn't fear them. She enjoyed them, and knew that if she didn't bother them, they wouldn't bother her.

Her mother, the portly mead hall cook, had been appalled upon hearing about her daughter's taboo interest, and asked Gobber, the village blacksmith, to watch her. Valka really did like Gobber, but she was also aware that he wasn't very bright, and therefore, easy to fool. She would always pull the wool over his eyes, again and again. Sometimes Gobber would secretly feign ignorance and allow her to escape. She would then go to watch the dragons again, and took care to be home by dinner so her mother wouldn't suspect anything.

Even though she was a misfit, Valka was content with her life. Her father was gone, but she loved her mother. She had plenty of adventures with Gobber. The terrible terrors would allow her to pet them and became her friends. Things were perfect, that is until she turned fifteen. Her mother had signed her up for dragon training, and Valka couldn't be any less excited.

Despite her protests, she still ended up walking in to the arena that day, only to find that Chief Stoick was the teacher. Really, he looked like she wanted to be there even less than she did. Nobody could blame him. Recently, Alvin, Chief Stoick's most trusted friend, with whom he was practically inseparable since they were children, had grievously betrayed him, forcing Stoick to outcast Alvin from the tribe. Needless to say, that hadn't put him in a very good mood.

And that mood was not helped in the slightest by Valka's presence in the class. Despite her klutzy disposition, Valka was a pretty good fighter when she put her mind to it, but all that counted for nothing when she was faced with a dragon. It's not that she was physically incapable of fighting dragons, she was just really bad at it for some reason. Most said it was fear that caused her hesitation, but Valka knew that wasn't the case at all. She didn't fear the dragons, in fact she never had, and she didn't want to hurt them, and no matter how hard she tried to do what she needed to for the class, it continued to get in the way. It began to dawn on her that maybe she was just too different, and that she wasn't cut out to be a Viking in the first place.

To avoid the daily humiliation at dragon training, Valka sluffed more often than not, running off secretly into the forest for her usual dragon watching routine. They tried to look for her, but she was too quick, too good at hiding in the shadows and slipping past, unless of course her foot caught on a route and she was sent noisily falling flat on her face. As a result of lack of attendance, lack of skill, and lack of participation, she failed dragon training, the first person in almost a decade, much to the disappointment of what seemed to be every single person in the entire village. It wasn't a good feeling, and served only to magnify the feeling of dissonance she felt between herself and her village. Maybe she was born in the wrong place, and this life wasn't for her at all. The next year, Stoick forced her to attend dragon training once more, in hopes that she would improve and pass, but Valka didn't even try. She hardly showed up, much less participated. Her lack of caring for the class was more than enough to draw Stoick's wrath right to her.

"Valka!" He boomed one day, causing all the other kids stand back from the sheer force of his anger as he strode up to a defiant looking Valka.

"Yes, Chief Stoick?" She asked, covering up her nerves with sheer unrelenting stubbornness as she looked up at the imposing man. His face was beet red, carrying his signature disappointed frown. She could hardly recall a time where she'd seen him smile.

"You have failed again!" He shouted gruffly. "In fact, you have clearly shown me that you have no respect for our traditions, and you don't seem to care about doing what it takes be a Viking and part of this tribe at all. In fact, you seem to care more about the dragons than your own village. I may go as far to say that you're a threat to the safety and order of this village."

Valka's eyes widened, shocked at his accusation. "Well, it's not that, I just–"

"Save the excuses Valka." Chided Stoick, not in the mood to listen to her. "I'm going to give you the mercy of one for chance, Valka. After that, there will be no more shots at redemption. If you fail one more time, I will personally exile you from the village."

She looked at him in surprise, for the sentence of exile seemed incredibly steep. Even the other members of the class were appalled, and they didn't even like her. She straightened, and looked him fight in the eye, her seafoam eyes full of unmovable defiance. "Fine." She huffed. "I'll do as you please, but don't expect me to like it, or to make it easy for you." With that, she turned and walked off, leaving Stoick strangely intrigued, as the grim idea of exile started not to sound so bad anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

Valka was well aware that her first day of training with Stoick had finally come, and she planned to spend it doing nothing other than avoiding the chief at all costs. That, of course, could easily result in him following through on his threat to exile her, but there was a part of her that was overcome with a profound sense of apathy toward the idea. Maybe the entire village would be better off if she were gone. Maybe her mother, who had a personal vendetta toward their last chief, Stoick's Father, would join her, and they could start a new life together, far, far away from the overwhelming shit that went on daily in the village.

She sighed, walking into the woods as was her usual routine, but today something was already off. She heard the sound of rustling in the foliage, and the snapping of twigs from behind her. Those, of course, were normal sounds, but this was different, heavier, more deliberate. Was she being followed?

She turned around and caught a glimpse of a stout figure in the tree, and the red beard of chief Stoick. She immediately broke into a sprint. Behind her, she could hear his feet pounding in pursuit, and so she quickly climbed up the tallest tree she could find. There was no way a man with his girth and weight could climb a tree like this, especially not as quickly as she could. Right?

She felt the tree shake underneath her, and she looked down to see Stoick scaling the tree swiftly after her, seeming to be having no trouble whatsoever in doing so. Valka began to climb faster.

"Valka!" Roared Stoick. "You better get down from there!"

Valka paid no heed to him, instead, she slowly made her way out onto a slender branch, using the branches around her to hold her up. Stoick soon caught up to her, huffing a little, red in the face with anger. He stepped onto the tree branch, and it shook, cracking a little under his weight. Valka feared it wouldn't hold.

"Now I know how this looks." Started Valka, hoping Stoick wouldn't come any closer.

"Don't try making excuses." Said Stoick, inching forward. "I know exactly what this is."

"Wait, Stoick." Said Valka, noticing the branch begin to buckle and snap from supporting both their weights.

Stoick didn't wait, and the branch gave way underneath them, sending them plummeting toward the ground. Valka clung to Stoick, and he landed first, back to the damp and rocky earth, cushioning her fall. Stoick groaned, and Valka made a break for it, but before she could get away, Stoick grabbed hold of her ankle, making her trip, and fall right back down to her knees. Needless to say, Stoick was not at all pleased.

"Let me go!" Demanded Valka, and she tried to pull away before resorting to punching Stoick repeatedly in the face and chest. Stoick remained stony faced as she did this, and kept his hand locked firmly around her ankle, hoping to just wait until she wore herself out. He thought he had won this round, but then Valka took a knee to his nether regions, causing him to cry out and loosen his grip just enough for her to escape and run off without another word.

Stoick sighed, and tried to get up despite his soreness. His face was pulsing. It would probably bruise. He decided not to pursue her this time, planning on physically being there to get out of bed in the morning, and went back to the village. He knew he should be angry, and in a way he was, but not as much as he felt he should be. In fact, as he looked back at the woods, he couldn't help but feel a little impressed.

0o0o0o0o

"Good morning, Valka." Rumbled Stoick, barging into Valka's bedroom before dawn.

Valka groaned as she opened her eyes, and glared at him. "Let me guess," she sat up, "come to exile me?"

"No, just the opposite. It wanted to tell you how impressed I was with our little skirmish yesterday."

Valka looked confused. "Impressed?"

"Yes, you have a lot of fight in you, and you're the first person in years to give me a black eye, but you're very unrefined. Listen, I can help you hone your skills. I know you're scared of dragons but–"

"I'm not afraid of dragons." Cut in Valka. "I-I just don't want to hurt them."

Stoick shook his head. "That attitude will get you carried off someday . . . but you're very set in it, and there's no use changing the mind of a Viking. We're all stubborn as stone. Just let me mentor you in your combat skills, trust me you'll really benefit from it, and teach you basic dragon defense. That way I can pass you and we can be done with this whole affair. Does that sound reasonable to you, Val?"

Valka sighed. "Yes, fine . . . just never call me Val again."

0o0o0o0o

From then on, Stoick began training Valka privately every morning. She was clumsy, all limbs and no balance, but Stoick was surprisingly patient with her, and taught her how to manage her weight and height, allowing her to move easily and gracefully. He also taught her how to fight hand to hand, and she was a fine pupil, ambitions and talented . . . for the most part. She had no skill in weaponry, and such strange ideas about dragons, but Stoick was willing to look past that. He suddenly found himself determined to help her, almost like he enjoyed doing it.

When they weren't training, they talked, laughed together, and sat on the cliff side to watch the sunset over the ocean some evenings. He would invite her to bon fires, and for once in her life she actually attended, and they would dance together all night. Suddenly, as if by a miracle, Stoick's constant bitterness began to melt, and he began combing his beard every day and braiding it nicely. Valka as well seemed to lose her hate for her life in the village. She began to help her mother without complaint, and Stoick would stride through the village, passionate in his work once more. He was almost . . . jolly, and it was almost a cause for concern. Stoick knew that Valka was much younger than him, and perhaps the most odd young woman in the entire village, but he couldn't help but feel like he was falling in love with her.


End file.
